Spaces Inbetween
by bananajelly
Summary: A collection of one-shots and scenes that imagine might have taken place in the PJO/HOO universe. New chapter: the reunion between Leo, Calypso and Percy in Trials of Apollo! Reviews & requests welcome :)
1. Not a Date

**AN: these chapters are unconnected; think of them as little snapshots!**

* * *

"It's _not_ a date," is the first thing out of Annabeth's mouth after she asks Silena to help her get ready for her date with Percy.

But Silena is already smiling a knowing smile, and Annabeth is immediately on the defensive. "It's _not!_ We're just seeing a movie. That's it. At least, _he_ doesn't think it's a date. So it's not a date." She wills herself to stop talking. This is _so_ not her forte.

"Okay," says Silena, her voice full of amusement, clear blue eyes sparkling. "It's not a date. Is the offer still on the table, though? Because as much as I try to go against the stereotype, I _love_ a good makeover."

"Wait, _makeover?_ " says Annabeth, not letting any of her self-consciousness show in her voice. "I was hoping for something more minor. I don't want to look like a different person." What she really wants to say is, _I don't want Percy to notice that I put in any extra effort_ , but she's pretty sure Silena has picked up on that.

"Natural it is," Silena beams, and guides her into the Aphrodite cabin. There's nobody else at this time of day, right after lunch, and Annabeth feels relief wash over her. She _definitely_ doesn't need anybody more talk about her and Percy's relationship circulating around camp.

Silena tucks her glossy black hair behind her ears with a expression of focused determination on her face. Annabeth bites back a laugh. It's the same expression that her own half-siblings get when faced with a challenging brainteaser, but the context couldn't be more different. "Percy's going to fall over himself when he sees you. And he won't even know why."

Annabeth decides protesting is futile, and instead just tells herself to feel grateful. "Thanks. You know I really appreciate it." She knows that the Aphrodite kids are wizards when it comes to beauty, and Silena is their bedazzled leader. The raven-haired girl is a few years older than her, taller and curvier too, and despite being undeniably gorgeous, she doesn't possess any of the usual child-of-Aphrodite vanity. In all her years at camp, Annabeth has never really mingled with the Aphrodite cabin, but she and Silena are both head counselors and they've always gotten along well.

As for asking Silena for help... Well, it's not like Annabeth's a natural tomboy, or hates all things dainty and pink like Thalia does. She's just so wrapped up in quests and strategies and blueprints most of the time that her own appearance practically falls off the radar. Mascara and lip balm, if she's feeling up to it. But lately – for no particular reason, of course – she wouldn't mind looking a little nicer than usual. All in all, she absolutely does not object to some professional advice.

After getting Annabeth to sit down on a chair that looks like it's from a barbershop – where did they get _that_? – Silena drops her relaxed stance, careening into a whirlwind of activity. She pulls open a drawer of her vanity, extracting bottles and tubes and compacts, like a solider rooting for weapons before a battle. Some of the contents are glowing faintly; some are even swirling around like miniature whirlpools contained by delicate glass.

" _Bon sang!_ " Silena curses under her breath in perfect French. Even her cursing is pretty. "Where's my Apollo's Glow Bronzer? I mean –" she glances momentarily up at Annabeth "-not that you need it. You've got the whole California-girl tan going on. But it just gives you this radiance, you know?"

She absolutely does not know, but she nods her head dumbly. Truth be told – and Annabeth would never admit this to anyone – she envies Silena a little. Not for her knockout looks, but because if _she_ were Silena, getting Percy to notice her would be a breeze. If she were a child of Aphrodite, she'd know exactly what to do. _Sorry, mom,_ she thinks to herself. _But being a daughter of the wisdom goddess hasn't really blessed me with the wisdom that I want right now._

Percy is just so maddeningly _obtuse_. Which she supposes works in her favor sometimes, because he hasn't noticed any of the handful of girls around camp who've taken to admiring him (yeah, she is _not_ happy about that development). But lately she's been working her demigod ass off for him to realize that she wants them to be something more than best friends, and so far her efforts have yielded pretty much nothing.

Sure – she catches him staring at her sometimes. Big deal. She's also seen him staring at a party-sized box of pizza carried by Travis Stoll with pretty much the same intensity. And yeah, she saw Percy give a death stare to one of the newer Demeter kids who tried to ask her out once, but she's not sure if he was really even aware of doing it.

As she thinks, Silena gets to work. "Honestly, I don't get why you two aren't dating yet," she says as she lightly dapples some sort of liquid blush onto Annabeth's cheeks. Her slender fingers are pleasantly cool. "He's obviously so into you."

 _Is it obvious, though?_ The look on her face must be a sour one, because Silena smiles apologetically and says "Sorry, sorry. Overstepping? I just get excited about romance. Okay, close your eyes for a second now." Annabeth obliges (in fact, the urge to close her eyes is impossible to resist, and she realizes a touch of unintentional charmspeak must be slipping through the words), and a feather-light brush dances over her eyelids.

"So," Annabeth says, eager to change the topic, "Are you using enchanted makeup?" Glancing at one of the glowing bottles, it doesn't seem like such an absurd question.

"Don't tell anyone," Silena says secretively. "You know Drew? She's kind of a Chanel purist. But if she knew I had my hands on this stuff, I'd probably never see it again."

When the not-makeover makeover is complete, Silena clasps her hands together with such joy that Annabeth can't help but feel happy too. She hands Annabeth a mirror: her skin is clearer and brighter, eyebrows evened out a tad, the slightest flush of color on her cheeks, lips looking a little fuller than before.

"Thanks, Silena," she says, feeling like she should say more but not knowing what, exactly. "I love it."

"Don't mention it," the girl says, her smile white and gleaming. "I am so here if you need me. You know that like half the camp is rooting for you guys to—"

Before she can finish her sentence, Charles Beckendorf's large frame appears in the open doorway of the cabin. "Beauregard," he says, grinning wide. Silena whips her head around so fast it's almost comical. "I was looking for –" he stops abruptly when he notices the daughter of Athena sitting there too, and he shuffles uncomfortably on his feet. "Oh. Hey. You look nice, Annabeth."

Annabeth waves to him, looks at Silena's flushed face, and smirks. It's nice to know that she and Percy aren't the only ones.


	2. Crush

I posted this as a separate story, but I'm adding it to this collection because it fits here :) This one is about Nico's crush on Percy, set before The Last Olympian.

* * *

The thing about Percy that drives Annabeth crazy is also the thing that Nico di Angelo is infinitely grateful for. It's that he's oblivious. Percy's not stupid, Nico knows that, but he can be less perceptive than a rock when it comes to certain things. Things like crushes. Well, that's what Nico wants to call it. A crush. That sounds a whole lot safer than what it might be.

But who is he kidding, really, because Nico knows he's in love with Percy Jackson and there's absolutely nothing he can do about it.

Love. He loves him. He hates him, too, with the intensity of someone who doesn't quite know _how_ to hate but does it anyway, like wanting to run before learning how to walk. He hates Percy for reasons that are too muddled up to pick apart, and he likes it that way, because if he looks at those reasons too closely then Nico's pretty sure he won't like what he finds. He's knows it has something to do with the way he feels whenever he sees his own reflection, that tight, painful feeling in his gut, the wash of shame and self-disgust that makes him want to melt into the shadows for good. How easy it would be, to slip into the Underworld and not return; who would notice?

But he's not ready to make that jump. He doesn't have the will to cut the strings that are tethering him to a world he doesn't belong in. Every time he sees Percy – from a distance, usually, as Nico seems to have a knack for getting around camp without anyone noticing he's there – his heart jumps up into his throat and lodges there. Percy with his easy off-kilter smile, with the faded scars that show briefly when his shirt rucks up over his stomach as he stretches, with the mindless way that his hand rests on Riptide whenever he's getting restless. The feeling of _wanting_ fills Nico's body so completely, if only for a moment or two, before subsiding under a wave of hatred.

On the rare occasions that Nico talks to Percy, he's always laser-focused on keeping his own feelings under wraps. Be nervous, be angry, be irrational - just don't let him see, don't him see, don't let him see. He lets the hate drift to the surface, lets it mask everything below, as well as it can, anyway. A defense mechanism as good as any other. It's not perfect and there's no doubt that any child of Aphrodite worth their salt would take one look at Nico's eyes and pin him down as _hopelessly in love._ But around Percy? Works just fine.

 _Hey, Jackson, don't you see the way that I look at you? Don't you see that I've wanted you to want me since I met you? Don't you see that I wish you would be gone but not dead, never dead, because if you died that would break something in me?_

It's _unfair._ Damn near everything is, but this seems especially cruel. Nico never stood a chance. Not from the time he was a little boy whose mother looked at him with love and worry, wondering to herself what she was going to do when he was older, hoping against hope that she was wrong about him. For his sake. Then he was ten, for gods' sake, only ten, a scrawny Mythomagic geek who saw his first real-life hero illuminated by the glow of a Celestial bronze blade.

Percy, who's pretty much blind to Annabeth Chase making heart-eyes and flushing red at him, whose fatal flaw is _being too loyal_. Percy and Annabeth, the way it should be, the golden couple.

Nico doesn't need a prophecy to see his future. It's all written on Percy's face, in the way his handsome features soften whenever he sees her, in the way Annabeth moves closer to him without even realizing she's doing it, like she's staking her claim ( _Nico wants to scream that he doesn't belong to her just yet but oh he does)._ Percy is going to go on thinking that Nico di Angelo hates him. And he'll be right.

Children of Hades don't get what they want.


	3. Reunion

**author's note:** Spoilers for Trials of Apollo ahead!

The reunion between Leo, Calypso and Percy.

* * *

When Calypso sees Percy, Leo's first thought, _Well, my day just took a turn for the worse._

He's aching all over from taking one too many punches, and he's feeling the guilt pretty bad, but all of that takes a backseat when Percy approaches the pair of them with a tentative expression on his face.

Leo doesn't miss the way Calypso reacts. Not one bit. Her eyes widen, flashing through a whole range of emotions in two seconds, her lips part slightly, and one hand flies up to smooth her perfectly smooth hair. Without thinking, he moves in a little closer to her. _This is stupid_. He's worked out all his anger and jealousy with Percy already, there's no reason to be feeling whatever he's feeling now.

But he's never been able to rid himself of that little nagging feeling of inadequacy, has he? For all the battles he's had to fight, all the fears he's had to overcome… that's still what gets to him. Calypso might have chosen him, and they might have spent six _months_ flying around together, but some part of Leo believes that she'll drop him like a sack of potatoes at any given moment. Hopefully he's wrong, because he's kind of in love with her.

That feeling hits him with full force as he watches Calypso watch Percy. He has no idea how this is going to go down, or how he's going to deal with their history together. He's not mad at Percy anymore, but come on, the guy has six inches on him and he's just helped to save all of camp _again_ (if Percy had a saving-camp punch card, he'd be due for a free coffee right about now). So cut Leo some slack, okay?

"Hey," the son of Poseidon says easily, though his brow is furrowed and he looks anxious. There's something else there, too – if Leo didn't know better, he would say there's a trace of anger. The kind that used to make Leo want to go dig a hole and hide in it.

Calypso says nothing; she only stares at Percy for a good five seconds before Leo breaks the silence with, "Um, long time no see, right, guys?"

Calypso says in a low voice, "Perseus Jackson… I thought I'd never see you again." Her voice is thick with emotion.

"Yeah, ditto for you," Percy responds, and the tension in the air lessens by a degree, though that uneasy look is still there. He pauses for a second, unsure what to say. "I, uh, I planted the moonlace, you know. It's growing outside my mom's apartment. I didn't forget about that."

He doesn't know what Percy's talking about, but Calypso's eyes are glittering. Is that a good thing? Probably not. "Thank you," she murmurs. "I didn't think that you would forget." Leo doesn't dare turn his head to look at her closely. He doesn't want to see if she's got an expression of longing or wistfulness or, worst of all, _regret_. But then she slips her pale hand into his brown one, and he glances at her, seeing a shadow of pain on her delicate features. It makes something in his heart hurt.

Percy's smile drops off his face. "Calypso – I'm sorry. If I had known they kept you on that island…" He shakes his head. "I thought the gods would keep their promise. I should have made sure."

Calypso breathes shakily. "Of course you would say that. Ever my hero, Percy," she says, no malice in her tone. "Please, do not apologize. The gods, Percy… it wasn't your wrongdoing. I may have blamed you, but I was... I could not think clearly, in my heartbreak. I was foolish. I was stupid. I am the one who wronged you."

 _Wow, that's a doozy. "My hero" and "heartbreak" in one breath. Whew, gimme a sec to absorb this._

He's so lost in his own thoughts that it takes him a second to notice the storm cloud passing over Percy's features, to see the anger hardening in his eyes. "You were the one who cursed Annabeth. Weren't you?" It's enough to make a shiver run up Leo's spine. "When we were in Tartarus. She couldn't see me. She thought I'd left her."

"Yes. It was. I understand if you hate me," she says. "If you can never forgive me. I cannot forgive myself for what I did."

"She didn't deserve that," Percy says flatly. His green eyes look oddly still.

Calypso looks away. Her grip on Leo's hand tightens. "I know."

Leo's just about ready to step in between them when the anger melts off Percy's face. It's almost scary, how fast the dark, bitter expression vanishes and is replaced by a trademark Jackson grin. "But I forgive you, Calypso. You couldn't have known we would end up in Tartarus. And I _was_ a jerk, you know. Asking the gods to free you and expecting that they just would."

Calypso seems stunned. She finally meets Percy's eyes, and then moves forward to kiss him softly on the cheek, wrapping one arm around him in a gentle hug. Leo stands there feeling like the world's biggest chump before she steps back and looks apologetically at him.

"Thank you. You know…" she hesitates. "I'm not in love with you anymore, Percy. But I'll always love you. I never stop loving my heroes." Her voice is old somehow, but soft.

Percy's kind of red, but he manages, "Yeah. I love you too, Calypso."

A comfortable silence settles between them (at least, it's comfortable for them – Leo's discomfort level is through the roof) for a few heartbeats. "So, you and Valdez, huh?" Percy says finally, smiling as he looks at the pair. "You guys make a cute couple."

* * *

Hope you liked it! Haha I needed some closure for this storyline. I really wanted to make it clear that there's no romantic love between Calypso and Percy anymore, hope it came across that way


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